Recently, State Farm came under heavy fire after a leaked employee email revealed that the company was attempting to recruit agents to purchase and donate kids’ books on being non-binary and transgender from The GenderCool Project to their communities. But State Farm is not alone in its support of LGBTQ+ groups; many government entities support corporations, even those marketing books on the subject to children as young as five.
State Farm has since announced that it is no longer partnered with GenderCool for somewhat mysterious reasons. Despite withdrawing its support for GenderCool, State Farm outlined its support for LGBTQ+ causes and stated it will “continue to explore how we can support” those aligned with the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
See also: State Farm pulls support after transgender kids book backlash
State Farm is not the only big-name partner working with GenderCool. The group lists its partners on its website, although the group has reportedly scrubbed many large companies from its website in the wake of the State Farm controversy. Currently, the listed partners include Nike, HP, Dell, Intel, and the Allstate Foundation – a subset of Allstate Insurance.
According to Just The News, Capital One, NBC Universal, General Mills, Adobe, Indeed, Bank of America, Sprout Social, Oracle, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), were all removed from the GenderCool “partners” page the day after State Farm removed its support.
The USDA disappeared within hours of Just the News asking for an explanation of its partnership.
When 1819 News reached out to the USDA and Allstate, no response was received regarding their past or current involvement with GenderCool.
U.S government entities partnering with pro-LGBTQ+ causes is nothing new.
Out and Equal, a partner of GenderCool, is an LGBTQ+ executive leadership development company that seeks to help businesses incorporate and advance best practices in diversity and inclusion.
The USDA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Security Agency (NSA), the State Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago are all listed among Out and Equal’s partners.
The GenderCool Project is a self-professed “youth-led movement” that seeks to offer education on transgender and non-binary youth.
One of the central tenets behind the GenderCool Project is “writing books to help grownups and the kids in their lives understand that transgender and non-binary youth are just like all other kids.”
GenderCool’s founders believe the State Farm drama will be beneficial.
“We now have more attention and interest and more appetite for folks to learn about who transgender and nonbinary kiddos are,” founder Jennifer Grosshandler told the Washington Post.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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